Jim McDonnell, The Man Who Retired McGuigan

[thenonpareil]

After ousting McGuigan from boxing permanently, McDonnell was now desperate to emulate his most recent victim as he strived to become world champion, though he was confronted by Ghana’s cherished son, Nelson. On Bonfire Night, 1989, at a congested Royal Albert Hall, McDonnell sat at the top of the bill on a show that featured the rise of future heavyweight titlists Herbie Hide and Lennox Lewis. In Nelson, McDonnell faced a modern great, possibly at his peak, and the gulf in class was evident despite a courageous effort from the London man, who was sensibly saved in the final stanza.


https://hannibalboxing.com/jim-mcdonnel ... -mcguigan/

[Noxy]

Yep, first show I ever went to. I‘ll never forget it, Jim put on a great performance that night. Some bill it was too - Lennox, Eubank and Hide on the undercard. There was a good six rounder just before the main event, I can’t remember who the fighters were though.

[Flump]

Tremendous effort by McDonnel that night against a great fighter.

Pretty much ruined him though and there was a lot of talk at the time that he should have been spared the final round. Though if memory serves he was up on one judge's scorecard.

[Bodyshot3]

Jim's world title fights were 'proper' and against the very best of that period.....Mitchell and Nelson.
And he did not let himself down; just a real pity there was not a bit more pop on his punches.

Did a great job with De Gale as well who I suspect was not easy an easy customer to manage and that a lot of patience and tact was required beyond corner work and sparring sessions.

[bennie]

I was at ringside when Jim turned pro at York Hall in early 1983 as part of the star-studded Terry Lawless stable. His new stablemate Charlie Magri had won the WBC flyweight title days earlier at Wembley and was introduced into the ring with Jim and his opponent (Plymouth's Phil Duke, who was also turning pro) waiting impatiently to get it on when all of a sudden Eamonn Andrews jumped into the ring and surprised Charlie with the big red book, so the two debutants had to wait even longer, although Eamonn quickly ushered Charlie to a nearby TV studio and McDonnell then cantered to a six-round decision over the fairly hapless Duke.
I had followed Jim throughout his long amateur career which saw him crowned ABA lightweight champion at Wembley in 1982 with a solid decision over Yorkshire's useful Gary Felvus. He was a pressure fighter in those days and pinned Felvus on the ropes for long periods, although southpaw Felvus rallied well at times with body shots in a lively encounter. Jim went on to represent England in the Commonwealth Games later in 1982 in Brisbane, where he battled a stomach bug and eventually settled for silver, after which Lawless signed him up and moulded him into a boxer because Jim was no banger and possessed a lovely left jab.
Lawless knew how to move a fighter and secured his man a European title in 1985 and later a world title shot at Brian Mitchell but Jim remained under the radar until he switched camps and registered a cut eye win over former world champion Barry McGuigan in four rounds in Manchester in May 1989 with the fight admittedly still up for grabs, although McDonnell had boxed coolly and opened the cut with a sharp left hook. Then came his showdown with with Azumah Nelson for the WBC super-featherweight title and a magnificent effort from the Londoner before he was rescued in the very last round, although the effort finished him as a fighter. Nevertheless, he picked up a few quid and nobody can take away his win over McGuigan (and an earlier cuts win over Ruben Palacios), screened 'live' on ITV.

[Controversial]

He was super fit, I remember him saying he had a resting heart beat of 34 BPM which is quite incredible.

[bennie]

He was super fit, I remember him saying he had a resting heart beat of 34 BPM which is quite incredible.

I think he still runs the London marathon in under three hours. You know, Jim regretted leaving the Terry Lawless camp for Matchroom because Lawless, a greedy but surprisingly compassionate man, would never have sent out the half-blinded McDonnell in that final round against a rampaging Azumah Nelson, a slice of corner indecision which cost him a horrible knockout at the hands of American Kenny Vice a year later and the end of his domestic boxing career. The Board pulled his licence afterwards but Jim surfaced in Slovakia eight years later for one fight: a points defeat at the hands of local man Peter Feher, just to get the sport - and that horrible defeat - out of his system.

[paddy chavez]

I was at the mcguigan fight as my brother pat was fighting najib Daho and I had predicted a McDonnell win as I saw him box pat's head off a couple of years earlier and thought he'd give Barry problems , Jim was a classic boxer that got drawn into slugging sometimes he never had the punch but had an amazing engine super fit he'd no doubt of been a dual weight world champ today but as mentioned already he faced Nelson and Mitchell around their primes